The results on preventing colon polyps, the aim of the study, aren't in.
Celebrex is approved as an adjunctive therapy for a hereditary disorder called Familial Adenomatous Polyptosis (FAP), which causes colon polyps to appear with alarming frequency.
Americans are also getting better cancer screening, so that, for example, precancerous colon polyps may more often be detected and removed before they can turn into tumors.
The study from which the newly released data was taken, APPROVE, was designed to test whether Vioxx prevents the formation of colon polyps that can lead to cancer.
In December, Pfizer said that a government-funded study testing whether Celebrex could prevent colon polyps instead showed that long-term use of Celebrex doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke.
The New York-based drug giant says last night it received news that in a study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, on using Celebrex to prevent cancerous colon polyps, the drug more than doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. (The risk showed up with the highest dose of Celebrex.) That study, called the APC trial, has been halted.
Those with an abnormal finding should get colonoscopy to assess the colon for polyps, diverticula and cancer.
It was hypothesized, therefore, that a COX-2 inhibitor could be of value in eliminating these polyps and preventing colon cancer in people predisposed to such polyps.
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But almost all colon cancers begin as benign polyps that gradually become malignant over about 10-15 years.
Epidemiologist Shirley Beresford says there was a significant decrease in polyps in the colon and rectum among women who maintained a low fat diet.
Mr. Buffett has long been in good health, though in 2000, he was hospitalized for several days and underwent an hours-long surgery to remove several benign polyps in his colon.
While most 75-year-olds are retired or cutting back on their schedules, the Country Music Hall of Famer shows no signs of slowing down despite hospitalizations in January for double pneumonia, three stomach ulcers, eight polyps in his colon and diverticulitis in his esophagus.
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The study tested the association between PROP and the number of colonic polyps, a measure of colon cancer risk, in 251 men.
Merck finally yanked Vioxx when it saw the results of its own 2, 600-patient trial, aimed at showing that Vioxx had the extra benefit of preventing polyps from forming in the colon.
Colorectal polyps, which are precursors to colon cancer, were known to over produce COX-2.
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These polyps are not necessarily cancerous, but colon cancer occurs in FAP sufferers more frequently than in other people.
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